Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
Parallel translations
- WEB (which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;
- BSB what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers,
- NKJV What wise men have told, Not hiding anything received from their fathers,
- NASB What wise people have told, And have not concealed from their fathers,
- NLT And it is confirmed by the reports of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers—
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Eliphaz appeals to the inherited wisdom of the fathers, claiming his teaching rests on a long, openly handed-down tradition. He grounds his authority in ancestral testimony.
Overview
Eliphaz reinforces his words by invoking generations of wise men who passed down their understanding without concealment. In the ancient world, such inherited tradition carried great weight. Yet tradition alone, however venerable, cannot account for Job's case, reminding us that received wisdom must be tested against the fuller revelation of God's purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Job 8:8For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:
- Ps 78:3–6Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
- Job 15:10With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
- Isa 38:19The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
- Ps 71:18Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 15:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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